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PRAYER TIME
Fajr (Dawn) Shorook (Sunrise) Zuhr (Noon) Asr (Afternoon) Maghrib (Sunset) Isha (Night) 4:54 6:11 11:48 3:01 5:26 6:56

WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com

MORNING BREAK

Court awards Jackson fans for emotional damage

ORLEANS: Five Michael Jackson fans won symbolic damages of one euro each yesterday as a French court agreed they had suffered emotional damage from the pop stars death. Played out in a court in the city of Orleans, the unusual case saw 34 fans suing Jacksons doctor Conrad Murray, who was jailed in 2011 over the singers death from an overdose, for the suffering they endured. The court ruled that ve of the plaintiffs two from France, two from Switzerland and one from Belgium had proven emotional suffering from Jacksons death. As far as I know this is the rst time in the world that the notion of emotional damage in connection with a pop star has been recognised, their lawyer, Emmanuel Ludot, said. He hailed the plaintiffs for going through with the process despite the sneers it aroused. He said they had proven their suffering with the help of witness statements and medical certicates. The case was brought by a group known as the Michael Jackson Community based near Orleans in central France. Ludot said the damages were symbolic and the plaintiffs would not be seeking to claim the one euro each from Murray, who was released in October after serving two years of his four-year sentence. But he said they hoped their status as recognised victims would help them gain access to Jacksons grave site in Los Angeles, which is closed to the public. Jackson died in 2009 from an overdose of the anaesthetic propofol while under Murrays care, as the King of Pop rehearsed in Los Angeles for a series of comeback concerts in London.
AFP

Salvadoran castaway set for emotional welcome home

GARITA PALMERA, El The family of Salvador: Salvadoran castaway Jose Salvador Alvarenga hung balloons and palm leaves in their humble home for his expected return yesterday after his amazing story of survival adrift in the Pacic. The sherman was on a shorter and more comfortable plane ride across the Pacic, two weeks after washing ashore in the Marshall Islands and telling the world he had survived 13 months adrift in a small boat. With a new haircut and clean shave, the 37-year-old was heading home to a family that thought he was dead until he emerged recounting how he ate raw sh and birds and drank urine and turtle blood to survive. Alvarenga, who left El Salvador more than a decade ago, was living in Mexicos southern coast when he says he went on an ill-fated shark shing trip in late 2012 with a companion who later died. We are preparing to welcome him. It is joy for all of us, his father Ricardo Orellana said from El Salvadors coastal village of Garita Palmera, known for its shing and beach. Alvarenga ew out of the Marshall Islands on Monday after getting the green light from doctors, three days later than planned because of a health setback last week. He landed in Hawaii before another expected layover in the US West Coast, but Salvadoran ofcials have kept a tight lid on his itinerary and say that his arrival could be delayed if his health suffers during the journey. His 14-year-old daughter, Fatima, was anxious to see the man whose face she could not initially recognise and whose story has been hailed as one of historys greatest maritime endurance feats, although sceptics say it is so incredible it is difcult to believe. Fatima, who has been living

WEATHER
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Weather Conditions: Fine to partly cloudy.

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High: 22 Low: 14

DOHA - SUN & SEA

SUN SUNRISE | SUNSET 06:11 17:26 THE REGION TIDE HIGH | LOW 04:00 & 15:00 11:15 & 21:00 TODAY SEA WIND 05-15/20 KT TOMORROW HI/LO WEATHER
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Maria Julia Alvarenga, mother of castaway Jose Salvador Alvarenga, prepares to receive him at her house in Garita Palmera, 118km west of San Salvador, yesterday.
with her paternal grandparents since she was a baby, spent Monday inating balloons to decorate the familys simple greenpainted brick house. The sherman says he lived in a seven-metre berglass boat for 13 months, enduring the 12,500km odyssey by grabbing turtles off the water and snatching approaching birds. He said last week that his crewmate, 24-year-old Ezequiel Cordoba, could not stomach the food and starved to death four months into the voyage. Cordobas family in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas say they want Alvarenga to tell them what happened, though they do not blame him for his death. Alvarengas miraculous story was met with some doubt when images rst emerged of him, his hair shaggy and sporting a bushy beard, but looking plump. But ofcials have said his story checks out and survival experts concede living in such conditions is theoretically possible. The Salvadoran government has disclosed little about his emotional return home, insisting that Alvarenga wanted privacy after giving a urry of media interviews while in the Marshall Islands. We expect him to return to the country tomorrow (Tuesday), but his return and his ight depend on his health, said Foreign Minister Jaime Miranda. Alvarenga underwent a health check in Hawaii but the government said it did not know the results. He was in and out of hospital in the Marshall Islands, suffering from dehydration and a range of ailments including back pain, swollen joints and lethargy.
AFP

HI/LO WEATHER
MUSCAT KUWAIT BAHRAIN SANAA RIYADH DUBAI BAGHDAD 22/16 18/10 18/15 22/06 21/08 20/15 19/08
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THE WORLD

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15/10 05/-5 25/19 06/01 12/05 16/08 30/21 28/15 20/09 19/05 Partly cloudy Ice pellets Chance of rain Mostly cloudy Chance of rain Chance of rain Clear Clear Partly cloudy Partly cloudy

ATHENS WASHINGTON SYDNEY LONDON PARIS ISTANBUL MANILA DHAKA DELHI ISLAMABAD

18/10 00/-2 25/20 05/02 10/08 15/09 31/20 28/15 20/06 18/03

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